Economy
(Note: This applies to ALL players without exception - if you have questions ask ClampyCore or Slinky/Zardier) (EVERYONE MUST READ ALL OF THIS - otherwise you will have a very hard time very soon) IC Y''ou are taking a liesurely stroll down the avenues in your local city, you approach your favourite merchant; the grocer you buy your food from. '' "Morning Fred, what fine fresh produce do you have for me today?" you enthusiastically ask the middle-aged fellow with an odd accent. "Ah, I have the very finest baked potatoes today for you, and a bargain at only one gold piece each!"'' he exclaims with his usual pushy salesmanship.'' "Gold? you mean silver coins right?" You ask with a confused expression. "Oh no, sorry, but turns out the silver coins were fakes that those thieves put into circulation. Worthless nickel!" "Oh, so all my money is worthless?" feeling dejected and much less light-hearted. "As worthless as an Orcish artwork I'm afraid." in a consoling tone "but, the leaders of the four Kingdoms have introduced Gold coins and given everyone One hundred gold to get them going, it's the new currency now." You thank him and make your way to the Kingdom Treasury where, sure enough, a servant is marking off names and handing out pouches of gold. "Next!" He demands You step up nervously "Which town or city are you a citizen of?" Again demanding "Err... I don't really live in a town" You retort "Everyone must be registered to a town or city - else they will be attacked by the raiders and bandits which are terrorizing the land." he explains impatiently. "Well I guess I belong to my own town that I live in by myself... called Meville." "Excellent, and which army do you draw your protection from?"'' - his patience clearly running thin.'' "Err... I don't" ''- this is getting really confusing.'' "If you don't have an army protecting your town you will have thieves, raiders and bandits attack your town and steal your money and goods or damage your property... or worse... damage your pretty face!" "You must see the leader of a Kingdom and organise protection, or you can hire soldiers yourself - but they are expensive." "Hmm... I'd better go do that, thanks for your help... and for the gold." You say before leaving. 'OOC' The economy has been reset as it was prone to hyperinflation and stagnation and there are several important changes going with it. The new economy has been designed such that there is always a finite amount of money in existence - 10,000 gold coins. Everyone will restart with 100 gold coins (with a few exceptions), and each of the four Kingdoms will have 1,000 gold coins in it's treasury. The remaining (roughly) 3,000 gold coins will be controlled by the admins for RP events like rewards for raiding dungeons etc. All money will transition between these players/kingdoms/admin accounts so the value of a gold coin will not change (as it did previously). Got that? Good... but wait, there's more! We are also introducing a system of Armies and Raiders to stimulate the economy. Every single player (without exception) must belong to a Town or one of the capitol Cities. IF you live on your own, your town can just be Playernametown and is still considered a town for these purposes even if it is just a cave or single hut. Every town must have the Protection of an army of strength equal to or greater than the number of players living in it - if it doesn't, it will have Thieves, Raiders, Pillagers and Mobs come and steal money and items as well as damage buildings and attack the player. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU HAVE PROTECTION. There are three ways to get protection for a town: #Hire your own troops (very expensive, but keeps you independent). #Pay a Kingdom with an adequately sized army to protect you (cheaper and you keep independent, but you must be careful not to offend the Kingdoms leader). #Offer control of the town to a Kingdom (The kingdom will now own the town and you will pay taxes, but by far the cheapest option). Armies have two values: Number of soldiers, and a Reach value which represents the number of towns/cities it can protect. For example, an army of 5 soldiers and a Reach of 3 can protect a total of 3 towns/cities each with up to 5 players in it. Each soldier and each point of reach costs $20 per week. So the above army would cost a total of $160 per week ($100 for the 5 soldiers and $60 for the 3 reach). Note that to provide protection for a single person 'town' would cost $40 per week. 'Here's an example' Lets say the Human Kingdom has an army of 6 soldiers and a reach of 4 - this would cost $200 per week ($120 for the soldiers wages and $80 for the supplies to give the reach of 4). This means it could protect four towns/cities with up to six players in each. Lets say there are four imaginary towns called: Bigtown, Littletown, Hamlet and Hermit with 4, 3, 2 and 1 player respectively - Plus the city of Solaris with 6 players in it. The King of the Human Kingdom offers protection for a price of $20 per player in a town. Bigtown decides to hire its own army of 4 soldiers (to protect the 4 players) costing $100 per week ($20 per soldier plus $20 for a reach of one to protect one town). Littletown decides to pay the Human Kingdom for protection at a cost of $60 per week (as the human king demands $20 per player). Hamlet decides they'd rather not spend the money and offers to become a part of the human kingdom (and the King agrees), the town is now owned by the kingdom, but they only pay a tax to the King (which in this case happens to be $10 per player). Hermit decides he doesn't want to pay for protection and goes without. Bigtown will need to make a lot of money via taxes/rent from its citizens to afford the very expensive soldiers - but remains completely independent of any kingdom. Littletown doesn't need to make as much money via taxes/rent from its citizens, but must make sure it stays on the Kings good side in case he decided to cancel the deal. Hamlet doesn't have to worry about protection - the King must take charge of that - but loses ownership of the town, but the taxes and rent will be cheaper than for the citizens of Bigtown and Littletown. Hermit gets his money and goods stolen regularly by thieves, plus risks having his home damaged. Not recommended. It is up to the ruler of each kingdom to decide what army to hire, and what to charge for taxes as well as rent for homes, rent for shops and any other sources of income. They also can hire players to do jobs like build things or hunt rogues. ''TL;DR'' The average player must sign up to be a citizen of a town or city. They will likely have to pay rent for any homes they have in that town/city as well as any shops - this is paid to a town/kingdom treasury. The player must make money by trading, doing jobs for a king, or from events such as pillaging a dungeon or ransoming off a captured shade for example. Note that you will no longer be able to just ignore the economy, also note that Chestshop is up and running now. I will shortly post the costs of tax/rent for the 4 major cities. Protection Below is a list of all of the Cities and towns that are currently (28/4/13) Protected by guards and the forces guarding them: FaeGuard - 3 guards protecting Fae City (Naeren'Nae), Jimmjim and ZosoD/etanator. SolGuard - 4 guards protecting Human City (Solaris). OrcGuard - 4 guards protecting Orc City (Kargen'dor) and Delief. DivGuard - 2 guards protecting Diventia. DwarfGuard - 1 guard protecting Dwarf City. CinriGuard - 1 guard protecting Cinri. Su1Guard - 1 guard protecting Su1cid4L. All other players living in other towns or by themselves are vulnerable to raiders stealing their goods and money or damaging their buildings or attacking them personally. Attacks will increase in ferocity over time.